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I feel I must get this out of my system and quantify/qualify this in writing more for myself than others.

Short story: I’m sorry if you think I drive fast, I honestly have no idea. Please tell me you don’t feel safe and I will make a conscious effort to drive slower and take things easy. If its not slow enough, please tell me and i’ll make it slower.

Longer Story:

Some things out of the way first before people think I’m mad to say what I say:

1. An accident, fatal or not, is an accident. I don’t really differentiate between the two in the sense that I don’t think its more acceptable to have a non-fatal accident (scratching someone’s bumper) as opposed to a fatal one (pulverizing the car against something else and killing someone). Both are bad and whether you were right/correct or not doesn’t matter, the winner is the one who walks away from the accident with no permanent, lasting damage to himself. That said, its obviously better to have a scratched bumper than a broken head but still, both are unacceptable.
2. Diving fast is obviously more dangerous than driving slowly. The only way to kill yourself at 1kmph is to drive over your own head or something, but even then, the car would not have enough momentum and torque to roll over your head due to the height it has to overcome. Because interacting physically with any object (bigger than a baseball and of considerable weight) with a speed difference of more than 20kmph is going to seriously injure you, should we drive less than 20kmph? obviously no! cos there are so many other factors to consider, including the pointlessness of driving at say, 15kmph over an average distance or 10-30km a day. You’d take 2 hours to get to suntec city from pasir ris taking the ECP. Lets not even talk about getting to school.
3. People are different. In terms of temperament, motor skills, sensitivity to speed and situational awareness just to name the more pertinent traits related to driving.

Next are some things about me (not you, dear reader, not everything is about you okay? I’m not assuming everyone is like me *yet*):

1. I don’t enjoy and pursue the act or sensation of driving fast. Doesn’t give me the feeling of power and delusions of grandeur, just makes me concentrate harder.
2. While in the driver seat, on a newer vehicle, I don’t feel(keyword hor!) anything below 130 on a straight road is particularly fast at all (sorry to disappoint, I’ve never been faster than that, need a bigger, faster car. Then it might change to 140 or 150 or maybe 200). I have, however, been in a vehicle going at 170. No.. it not particularly fast too. Basic fact is i don’t FEEL its fast. It is very reasonable to think, however, that it is madness and dangerous to be at anything above 120 and weaving around traffic in the context of small crowded Singapore roads (bring on the autobahn anytime!). Not to mention impractical and gas wasting. The final thing that matters is, my average speed at most will exceed the speed limit by 10-15kmph on highways. Everyone does that! This is because any faster and they can haul my butt to court and fine me big big.
3. I don’t take passengers much. That’s how I do most of my driving - alone. Where I don’t have to think about how others perceive my driving as being safe in my car. I just drive it and know I am safe because I’m aware of my surroundings, have decent reaction, have a generally slower and calmer mind to process information. Besides, I know I’m not sabo-ing anyone else. So I am free to take that bend at 70 because well.. I can expect it and shift my body accordingly. I really have no idea if you feel its too much sideways G-force. Wait till you experince -ve Gs in a small, stalled propeller plane. It will totally redefine your perception of unsafe.
4. I am in the upper percentile of people with regard to spacial reasoning, judgment, motor skills, hand eye foot coordination, hearing, decision making and multi-tasking according to a test applied over at the air force where they decide initially whether to put a cheap prop plane ($60-120k) in my hands, followed by a larger jet if you learn quickly and respond well to pressure. Not to hao lian, but this does count for something at least right? Does it cause me to be perceived as more dangerous? probably, because I feel everything is happening quite slowly around me and I honestly can tell if something is not wrong. However, this numbs me further to the limits of the perception of safe driving.

With all those facts in mind, I put forward that I am unaware of how my passengers feel when I am driving the car. They mostly don’t vocalize discomfort if they don’t know me and if they do, I can’t tell if it is a serious concern or just something they mention because its fun or not normal or if they are being polite or politically correct since they are in the vehicle I’m driving.

I do err on the side of caution and drive slower and take things easy once I’m notified. I generally do not speed up on purpose to make my passengers feel more insecure and wishing they had walked home to their home in boonlay from pasir ris. Who does that? It seems however, I cannot translate driving safely into practical actions beyong driving slower, less jerky, taking bends slower, being further away from the cars around, in front and keeping my lane. Seriously, I do not exude the aura of a perceived-as-safer driver like david wang due to personality differences and thats really one of the major things that allow people to perceive that you are safe. Also, I’m not trying to be stupid and say its your problem for feeling insecure. Its not! but in all bluntness/yh-ness If you do not like my driving, you can drive or else don’t sit the car I drive. To the best of my memory, I have never made anyone take a ride home or come around in a car with me. I’m either asked, told to do so or I offer and its taken. Singapore has very good taxi and public transport, no problems getting anywhere la.

Lastly, I really do want you to have a safe ride. Don’t worry, I don’t like the idea of dying/injuring myself in a car crash too.

The I told you so day will come when I do have an accident. Everyone has accidents. Lets just hope I am alive for you to say it to me. Or else you can say it at my eulogy and then you’d have the last word. haha.. okay, the fact that I am joking about it makes you feel that I am flippant about my own and other’s life right? probably. But I honestly don’t care what you think very much in this context because its simply not important.

And so concludes my small paper on why I drive the way I do.

Bonus: Just to satisfy your curiousity since you’ve made it this far, I’ve made 2 dents and a cracked taillight on the Honda. Both while reversing into objects I didn’t/couldn’t see. First was a lamp post that was dark and the sensors didn’t pick up at ze gang’s house there, second is my very own gate at the house because the street was parked so full I had to reverse in from the left instead of the right. A large gate facing you from the side becomes a very small, black line you cannot see when its just outside the rear screen blocked by the car’s body. Once again, the sensors didn’t pick up cos too skinny. So thats it.. the super-unsafe-will-kill-someone-eventually driver that is YH has an uninterestingly non-existent accident record. Sorry to disappoint.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 2:45 am and is filed under Thoughts and Discussions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.